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New Japan Pro-Wrestling
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (新日本プロレス Shin Nihon Puroresu?) (NJPW) is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded in June 1972 by Antonio Inoki, who sold the promotion to video game developer Yuke's in 2005 and sold in 2012 to Bushiroad. Kaname Tezuka is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from September 2013, when the previous president, Naoki Sugabayashi, was promoted to Chairman.1 Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it is the largest wrestling promotion in Japan and the second largest in the world in terms of attendance and revenue (behind WWE). From its creation in 1972 until 1986, NJPW was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. NJPW is known for openly engaging in working agreements with various MMA and pro wrestling promotions around the world, including: World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Full Impact Pro, WAR, Ring of Honor, Pride Fighting Championships, and Jersey All Pro Wrestling2 and various other MMA and pro wrestling promotions. NJPW's biggest event of the year is the January 4th at the Tokyo Dome, an event they have held each year since 1992, currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner. Historyedit Originally founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972, New Japan Pro Wrestling, also known as "Shin Nihon Puroresu", is considered the top promotion in Japan and is comparable to WWE in the United States in terms of popularity in the country. They promote events throughout Japan with their biggest event being their annual blowout show held every year on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome, currently billed as Wrestle Kingdom, which is Japan's version of WWE's annual WrestleMania event. In the past they have worked with WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) among others and currently have a working agreement with Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion and American National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) governing body, additionally they occasionally do cross-promotion matches with other Japanese promotions, such as All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. The promotion is currently owned by Japanese card game company Bushiroad, who parlayed their entry to the world of professional wrestling into a best-selling trading card game, King of Pro Wrestling, and appearances from NJPW stars in their various franchises. The promotion also has its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP). Thus all the promotion's titles are referred to as IWGP Championships. They currently have six titles: Heavyweight, Junior Heavyweight, Tag Team, Junior Heavyweight Tag Team, Intercontinental and the NEVER Openweight Championship. They also hold several tournaments each year, including G1 Climax, World Tag League, New Japan Cup and Best of the Super Juniors. The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion. On January 4, 2011, New Japan Pro Wrestling officially announced the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast, the promotion's first tour of the United States in May 2011, when they held shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15. As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.3 On January 31, 2012, Yuke's announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥500 million ($6.5 million).4 New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view, the fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax, on August 5, 2012.5 The October 8, 2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside of Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream.67 On October 5, 2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, which would be contested for on the NEVER series. A two-day tournament to determine the inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012.8 In February 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with Ring of Honor (ROH), which saw the promotion return to North America the following May to present two supershows; Global Wars and War of the Worlds.910 During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW).11 On June 21, 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American Global Force Wrestling (GFW) promotion. CHAMPIONSHIPS *IWGP Heavyweight Championship *IWGP Tag Team Championship *IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship *IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship *IWGP Intercontinental Championship *NEVER Openweight Championship TOURNAMENTS *G1 Climax *World Tag League *New Japan Cup *Best of the Super Juniors *Super J Cup *Super Jr. Tag Tournament *Young Lion Cup *J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament TRIVIA Credits go to Wikipedia's Article, New Japan Pro Wrestling. Category:Promotions